Looking for a Few Good Women - Page 2

Moyer running the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Photo courtesy of Ashley Moyer

Growing up, she had run recreationally and decided to run her first marathon in 2009—the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC. “It’s funny to think back to that race. At the starting line, 26.2 miles sounded ridiculously far. The last six miles felt like a lifetime,” she says. “Back then I never dreamed of running farther. Now I think it'd be fun to train for a marathon again some day and see what I could run now that the distance isn't as daunting.” Shortly afterward, she ran her first trail race—the Hyner View Trail Challenge in Hyner, Pennsylvania. Her boyfriend, David Lister, whom she met in the Marines, ran it with her.

“We were both instantly hooked,” she says. “After that, we wanted to discover new trails and run farther and longer.”

Moyer has always loved the outdoors. When she was 14, she began working on a horse farm. “Whenever I got the chance, I'd go out for a trail ride in the woods. There was nothing more fun than flying through the woods on the back of a horse, jumping fallen trees, galloping through a field.”

This summer, Moyer and Lister plan to spend several weeks in Colorado, visiting the trail Meccas of Boulder and Leadville. They also plan to stop in Telluride to volunteer at Dakota Jones’ new race, the Telluride Mountain Run[see Making Tracks, July 2013, Issue 89].

“David and I have never run at altitude and want to see if we can handle it,” says Moyer. “We plan on seeing as many trails and mountains as possible!”

After her contract was up for the Marines, she decided to attend Lock Haven University in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. Currently a sophomore, she is majoring in Outdoor Recreation Management.

“Part of my love for trail running is in exploring new places and seeing new sights,” she says. “Favorite trails? Always mountain trails. It’s not as fun if you aren’t going up and down.”